


Domestic Life with the Knights, Plus a Few More

by Zebra (DQueenie13)



Series: Dragon Knights? More Like Dad Knights [2]
Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 12:10:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16743745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DQueenie13/pseuds/Zebra
Summary: Chapter 1: When Siegfried informed Percival that his second cousin was staying over, Percival wasnotexpecting a little nine-year-old girl and her guard dog.





	Domestic Life with the Knights, Plus a Few More

Percival saw Siegfried’s text message that his second cousin would be staying at their apartment for two weeks, the redhead didn’t think much about it. He read it right after stepping off a twelve-hour flight and decided he would deal with it after he returned home, whenever that was with the city’s rush hour traffic.

So when he finally stepped into the living room of the apartment, blinking the sleep out of his weary eyes, the first words out of his mouth were a very eloquent “…She’s _tiny_.”

In his tiredness, he’d assumed—and convinced himself that—the guest would be around their age. The girl with large round eyes gazing back at him did not at all look like an adult. She spoke, and her voice was that of a child’s.

“U-um… I’m sorry… I’ll grow taller…?”

Siegfried walked in from the kitchen with a laugh. “Don’t worry about it, Sara. He’s always like this after a long flight. Alright, Percival, back to bed you go.”

Still completely dumbfounded, Percival let Siegfried steer him into his bedroom and under the covers, where his well-deserved sleep quickly overtook him.

* * *

The next morning, Percival stepped back into the living room on his way to the dining room for breakfast when something else new caught his eye.

“Siegfried,” he half-whispered to the man already at the dining table, “when did we get a new—wait. That’s not a mop.”

“It’s a half-mop,” Siegfried replied, an amused grin dancing on his lips. Before Percival could shoot back a _What is **that** supposed to mean_, the half-mop lifted its head up, tail wagging. _Oh, it’s a dog._

“He’s Sara’s guard dog, Graphos,” Siegfried explained, just as Percival realized the girl was sleeping on their couch. “He’s a Komondor. A ‘mop dog’, if you will.”

Percival sat in his usual seat across from Siegfried. “Yeah, I’ve heard of them. I’m surprised he’s not barking his head off at me.”

“He might already recognize your scent. Oh, he’s coming over. C’mere, Graphos.”

The dog obeyed, and clearly enjoyed the stout head rub the man gave him as a reward. He then turned his attention to Percival, who gave him an outstretched hand. Graphos seemed to understand Percival didn’t want to be bothered, only taking a few inquisitive sniffs before turning back and settling at his sleeping master’s side.

“How’s he taking to Fafnir? I know most guard dogs aren’t good with other dogs.”

Fafnir was Siegfried’s pug and a diva, thriving on attention and sticking his nose in every single place it did or did not belong. Percival never thought “opposites attract” worked for man and dog, but Fafnir had lived with Siegfried even before they moved into his apartment, so he wasn’t going to question it.

“Graphos isn’t particularly fond and Fafnir doesn’t like having a new rival, but Graphos obeys Sara so she’s keeping the peace. Fafnir’s loving the attention she gives him.”

“Is that so.” Percival picked up one of the scones sitting on a plate between them.

His eyes lingered on the gold embellished flowers on the plate’s lip; did they ever own a plate like that? Neither of them had ever been particularly keen on decorative embellishments, so this plate stood in stark contrast to their tastes. Percival racked his brain to remember how they ever came into possession of such a thing.

“Is this…?”

“Volenna sent these with Sara as thanks for letting her stay at our place for the time being.”

“I see. And Volenna is Sara’s…”

“Legal guardian.”

_Not her parent, huh?_ To Percival’s memory, Siegfried never once spoke about his family. The most he’d ever said about it, after much goading from Vane and Lancelot while he was tipsy, had been a curt “I don’t really have any family.” The other three realized at that point that it was futile to try and delve further.

_Huh, I must’ve been **really** out of it last night. Didn’t even think twice when he called her family._

“How old is she?”

“At the age where she’s tiny.” Siegfried quietly laughed as Percival, in a huff, tore off a piece of his scone and threw it at his chest. After popping it into his mouth, he answered seriously. “She’s nine.”

“That’s young.”

“Yeah, she’s tiny.”

Percival snarled. “You really aren’t going to let that go, are you?”

“She got pretty worked up over it after you went to bed. Asking me if she was too short for her age and how long it’ll take to grow up.”

“Was she really _that_ worried?”

“People say girls have a stage where they want to be all grown-up,” he shrugged. He’d never really paid attention to those things, so he didn’t think terribly hard about it.

As Siegfried went to prepare some coffee, Percival stared at the sofa where Sara slept. Graphos lay along the side of the sofa, but he wasn’t asleep; at the sound of feet walking around upstairs, or at the honking of cars on the street far below, he’d perk up. On occasion, he’d pace around the coffee table before settling back down.

Siegfried returned with two mugs, setting one in front of Percival. After a small _Thanks_ , Percival noticed the time on the clock. It was already 9:30, but Siegfried didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to get to work. He was still in his sleepwear, after all—a plain black t-shirt and sweatpants.

Well, that said, it wasn’t like he really dressed up any more when he _did_ have work—he went from a t-shirt and sweatpants to a fancier t-shirt and nice jeans; the only times he actually got put-together was if he was involved in something “professional,” or if Percival rummaged through his closet and picked an outfit for him.

 

Siegfried was an adjunct professor at the University of Feendrache, specializing in history (specifically, medieval history) and war studies. Back when Percival transferred to FeendU at the start of his sophomore year, Siegfried was a graduate student working as a teacher’s assistant. It was there that the two became acquainted.

“I don’t have any Friday classes this semester,” he explained after Percival asked. “I’m teaching three courses: three classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and one class on Thursdays.”

“I assume the ones with three classes are introductory courses or electives?”

“Yeah. They’re only an hour and fifteen minutes each, so it’s not too bad. I think all my classes are completely full, though. Maybe my popularity’s growing.”

Percival glanced away for a second as he sipped his coffee in lieu of rolling his eyes. Every semester this happened: Siegfried’s classes would fill up in a flash, he’d comment on how they were all filled, and then he’d forget until the next semester’s course registrations finished. Hell, when Percival was picking his classes way back when, a student had urged him to pick the class Siegfried was TAing in because of _him_ , not the actual professor.

Siegfried really had what it took to teach. Though he was not the most verbose, his lectures and explanations were succinct and easy to understand (his diagrams were also unexpectedly cute, which had earned bonus points with the female student body). He subtly guided students to the correct answer and seemed to have endless patience. Also helping his popularity was the department’s open secret: that he was—for whatever reason—well-versed in actual swordplay. Even a few years after Percival had graduated, he was as popular as ever.

* * *

Suddenly, a bright, cheery tune blared from the living room. It was the theme song to _Five Flowers: Legend of Xolotl_ , the latest in the popular live-action magical girl metaseries aimed at young girls. Normally, Percival didn’t pay enough attention to children’s shows to know their theme songs, but it was getting a movie soon and so avoiding its catchy tune was nigh impossible.

_You are the one treasure that we love most  
Ready now, “I love you!”_

Sara stirred, feeling around the coffee table in front of her. The men heard a gasp before she bolted up from the sofa and practically smashed her phone in her rush to silence the alarm.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Her cheeks flushed bright red as Graphos leaped up, placing his forepaws on her lap and licking her face. She giggled in response. “G-Graphos! Stop that!”

At the sound of Sara’s voice, Fafnir dashed out of Siegfried’s bedroom and leaped onto her. “Ah! Fafnir! Not you too!”

“Fafnir, stop that,” Siegfried called over. Fafnir, dramatic as he was, turned around and whimpered loudly before nudging back into Sara’s hand. Undeterred, Siegfried reprimanded him again. “No, Fafnir. Come here.”

The pug dragged himself across the room until he reached Siegfried’s side. Once he did, Siegfried picked him up and placed him on his lap.

“Fafnir’s still as impish as ever,” Percival snickered.

“He’s a character. Also, good morning, Sara.”

“G-good morning, uncle Siegfried! Good morning, Mr. Percival!”

“Good morning.”

As Sara shuffled to the bathroom with a bundle of clothes in tow, something occurred to Percival. “Say, Siegfried. How exactly did Graphos know my scent?”

“Oh, they’ve already been staying here for four days.”

It took the redhead a few moments to fully process this. “ _Four days?_ ” Realizing that she might overhear them, he lowered his voice to a whisper again. “And you just told me _yesterday_?”

“Forgive me,” Siegfried replied. “It was a very sudden request from my grandmother, so I couldn’t just turn it down.”

His explanation was dissatisfactory, starting with the main issue, the fact that Percival hadn’t been informed about having a guest in what was technically _his_ apartment for an entire four days since she’d started living there. But instead of pointing out the obvious, the baffled response that spilled out of his mouth was “ _You_ have a _grandmother_?”

Siegfried raised an eyebrow. “I can assure you I was not born via fissure. Of course I have parents and grandparents. I had a completely normal human birth.”

“I wonder…”

 

“What’s fissure?”

Percival nearly jumped out of his seat at Sara’s innocent question. This kind of banter was so normal for the two that he’d forgotten she was there, even though she was the entire reason for the current conversation.

Siegfried patted on the back of the chair to his right, so she sat beside him and grabbed a scone. “Fissure, at least the way I was just using the word, is a type of—”

_Hang on a second, is he seriously going to teach a nine-year-old about reproduction? What if we get too deep into this conversation? How is Volenna going to react when she finds out?_

Percival spoke up irately. “Oi, Siegfried.”

“Hm?” The two’s eyes turned towards him.

“I don’t think Sara’s big enough for this kind of conversation.”

The older man mulled it over for a few seconds, as if it required serious thought. Finally, he replied, “Hmm… perhaps you’re right.”

_Only “perhaps”?!_

Though a great teacher he may be, his common sense was severely lacking no matter which way you sliced it.

Meanwhile, Sara seemed conflicted about something. Suddenly, she lifted her head and stared Percival straight in the eyes. “Um, I… since I’m not big enough, I’ll do my best to grow taller for you, Mr. Percival!”

He sputtered. Somehow, she’d completely misunderstood the context of his comment. (It was caused by his half-asleep comment the night before, but he wouldn’t realize this for quite a while.) Her expression held such determination that he couldn’t bring himself to callously point out her mistake, but he also couldn’t think of any appropriate response either.

Kids always said the weirdest things and got hung up over the weirdest things. _Be normal, little kids._

“I’ll be… wishing the best,” he slowly spoke, picking his words carefully. The girl, in turn, gave him a nod filled with conviction. How, exactly, had things turned out this way?

Siegfried’s eyes suddenly took a dangerous glint, and Percival braced himself as the man opened his mouth to speak. “Say, Percival, you have the week off, right?”

“Huh? Why?”

“We’re going to binge watch the _Five Flowers_ series from the beginning.”

“Really?!” Sara and Percival replied with the same word, but with two very, very different intonations.

“Don’t you have homework to grade?”

“I’ve never seen any of the old series!”

“Isn’t _Legend_ the twelfth installment? We’re going to watch _all_ of it?”

“I wanna watch all of it!”

The room quickly descended into cacophony as Sara and Percival spoke at the same time, Graphos barked as he saw Sara get excited, and not to be left out, Fafnir started barking too. Siegfried laughed at the ruckus before him. “I’ll get it set up on the TV. You finish your breakfast, Sara.”

“Alright!”

Percival sighed in resignation. To say the least, this was _not_ how he’d expected to spend his week off.

**Author's Note:**

> Sara and Siegfried content is my brand now. They aren't actually related in canon, I just made that up for the fic.
> 
> The "theme song" for the in-fic series _Five Flowers: Legend of Xolotl_ is the beginning of [Never Ending Fantasy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvkmkerF9iY), using [yuu0224's translation](https://yuu0224.dreamwidth.org/2595.html). I'll probably elaborate on the series in future chapters.


End file.
